Expression and Clinical Significance of FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 in Colorectal Cancer

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is associated with a high mortality rate. Previous studies have shown that FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 play significant roles in various cancers, influencing the invasion and metastasis of tumors. However, their effects on colorectal cancer have not been fully investigated. The purpose of this research was to examine the expression of FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) and to systematically as-sess how these factors relate to clinicopathological characteristics and patient survival outcomes. METHODS: This study retrospectively gathered paraffin-embedded samples from 110 CRC patients who underwent surgery between 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, relevant data were obtained from public databases to analyze expression differences of FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 between tumor tissues and normal lung tissues. We examined the expression of FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 using immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the associations among FOXQ1, MMP11, CST1, clinical-pathological parameters, and prognosis were systematically analyzed. Further verification of the in vitro results was conducted through qRT-PCR. RESULTS: Expression of FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 in patients was high, with 83.6%, 67%, and 74.5%, respectively. Through rigorous quantitative analysis of clinical-pathological parameters, the study confirmed that these biomarkers have a close and clinically significant correlation with the progression of TNM staging and the occurrence of lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). Bioinformatics analysis and qRT-PCR verification both indicated that the expression levels of FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues were significantly higher than those in adjacent non-cancerous tissues. CONCLUSIONS: The research data indicate that the abnormal overexpression of FOXQ1, MMP11, and CST1 in CRC tissues is significantly correlated with poor clinical prognosis in patients. There may be a synergistic effect influencing the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells, positioning them as potential novel therapeutic targets for patients with CRC.